<p>I'm feeling very guilty. I am taking my girls to camp the same weekend as "Family Weekend" at CMU. I noticed they have a lot of fun things planned - including a "talent show" by the pre-drama kids. </p>
<p>Do most parents return mid-summer for this weekend ?</p>
<p>I know we don't expect to be going to the family weekend. Our plan is to drive our daughter to CMU and have her fly home.</p>
<p>4KidsMom,</p>
<p>I don't know if they will do the same things they did 2 years ago, but I did go when my D was there and had a great time. The program actually did some wonderful demos of what the kids were working on - some kids sang, some danced, they demonstrated some of the acting exercises they do in class and there was a very interesting movement class demo. Also, they held out a few small parts in the summer production for pre-college kids so we went to see the "real" CMU students perform and it was great. The "talent" show was student run and quite informal.</p>
<p>I don't know how far away you live from CMU but you obviously have more than one child to take care of so I wouldn't feel guilty at all (and I'm Jewish so I know from guilt.......). I might feel a little sad but it's very far from the end of the world. If your S is anything like my D, he gets plenty of attention because of his passion for MT. You can't clone yourself so enjoy the adventure of taking your other two to camp.</p>
<p>Thanks so much. We live in Boston and I'm driving 2 of the girls to NC that weekend and then taking one other daughter back up to Fairfield Univ in CT for a different program........
I know.... it's insane, but I don't mind. They'll be grown and gone before I know it!</p>
<p>I am trying to get someone to 'be' family for that weekend as we are coming from Oregon - and a trip to take her and one to pick her up is about all we can afford!!</p>
<p>So - if all else fails - and one of you CC Moms or Dads is going - I will ask you to 'adopt' my daughter for the day!</p>
<p>Ah -- guilt - now if only my sleeping son would get some and get up!
(it is almost 3pm here....)</p>
<p>janenw</p>
<p>it's so soon! i'm so excited!! i can't wait to meet everyone!!</p>
<p>Here we come CMU! Just one more week!</p>
<p>way too excited/anxious!</p>
<p>we are leaving tomorrow...</p>
<p>me too!! woo hoo! i'm so excited and i can't wait to meet everyone!!!</p>
<p>FIRST WEEK AT CMU PRE COLLEGE</p>
<p>As promised -- for next year's group of summer kids -- here is a report so far from CMU pre college. </p>
<p>We drove Broadway Wannabe to Pittsburgh Saturday and linked up with her roomate Saturday. She and another CC-er had decided to room together. </p>
<p>They actually let us move all the stuff in Saturday, so we did not have to be part of the move-in mess Sunday morning. My husband and I stayed for the parents orientation and left Sunday morning. </p>
<p>The dorm room is pretty good, apart from being hot. They share a bathroom with a triple, so that was a plus, considering we had figured this might be community bathrooms, particularly since the dorm is old. </p>
<p>The dorm has a computer lab, but my daughter's nearby friends have laptops, so she is using those occasionally to email. Of course all the kids have cell phones. These two things alone make it very different from Interlochen where there are No computers, no cell phones. If you wanted to call home, you used a calling card. </p>
<p>Speaking of Interlochen, she immediately found a group of kids she knew vaguely from Interlochen last year. </p>
<p>Her classes, she says, are great. She is taking (not every day):
ballet
jazz
dramatic literature (reading of plays, etc.)
audition
improv
voice (group of some kind)
private voice lessons (to begin next week)</p>
<p>Maybe some others that I can't remember. They did placements for the dance classes. The classes she says, have between 8-13 kids. </p>
<p>They have given the kids a bus pass and are encouraging them to explore Pittsburgh. There are numerous weekend activities optional, for which you of course pay more. For the holiday weekend, I think there will be fireworks and some other things.</p>
<p>All it all, I think it will be very worthwhile and will get her into shape for the upcoming auditions. </p>
<p>The program in total has about 600 kids. This incudes MT, acting, theater tech, architecture, and various academic programs. The campus is a nice size and attractive. </p>
<p>Haven't heard a word one way or the other about the food, so I guess it must be ok. </p>
<p>I'll "report" further next week</p>
<p>Thanks so much for posting the information on how your daughter is doing at CMU. My D is a rising junior, so is looking for information on the various summer programs which might be possibilities for next year. I know there are others too who appreciate your insight, so we'll be eagerly anticipating future updates!</p>
<p>I have been lurking and benefiting from the help and advice of all who contribute to this site. I have also suffered the disappointments and crises, and celebrated all the good news. Thank you to all of you who have helped make this year easier for me. </p>
<p>My son (will be a high school senior) is in acting at CMU this summer, and I wanted to add to the great report of nytheatermom . We flew in from Chicago on Saturday, went to the campus to get another look, (we visited March, 2004, also my husband graduated in 81). The buildings were all open, so we wandered for hours. </p>
<p>On Sunday, we lined up before 9:00 - a hot wait and got registered. All the students for pre-college(1100+ applied, 600+ accepted) stay in the same dorm, Morewood, just across Forbes Ave. from the theater building. It is old, and HOT, but it has a computer lab, tv lounges, two pianos out of tune though - pool and ping pong tables, (though it looked like some construction was going on). We rented the microfridge ($90), and split the cost with his two roommates (one industrial design, one calculus). The three boys rearranged the room to suit them, and we were off to orientation. Everyone was excited and clearly, many were very nervous, though once they were in the process of paperwork, schedules, meetings etc, they seemed calmer.</p>
<p>We really enjoyed the introduction of the faculty in the theater. What an energetic, exciting, dynamic group they were! Surely, they will take great care of our kids (140 in acting, MT and tech). The feeling of anticipation was everywhere. We took off then for dinner, and to Target for items we forgot to bring. We bought the boys each a case of water. We exchanged phone numbers with the roommates parents, and laughed imagining that the cleaning supplies we bought might be used. </p>
<p>Monday was regular classes for the tech students, improv and vocal for the actors, and dance placement for MTs. At 8:30am Tuesday, MTs and actors got their class schedules. All drama students take drama lit, from the head of the drama pre-college, there are four classes. My sons schedule goes 9 to 6 on MWF and 11 to 6 on TT, with private voice lessons Tuesdays, at 10am. His elective, directing is in the evening. </p>
<p>Many evening workshop opportunities will be offered, and they were announced yesterday, Friday. The theater building is open till 11pm and students may use any empty studio, any time for rehearsals, practice, singing, dance or playing the piano. </p>
<p>According to a few emails and phone calls, he is: hot in his room, having fun, making friends, missing his girlfriend, sleeping enough, exploring Pittsburgh on bus, signed up for a few field trips, and very unhappy with the food (he said there is a kitchen in the dorm and would we send him pots and pans to cook with!!!! We said no!) </p>
<p>Thanks again for everyones posts, sorry this ones so long. Ill update again later.
Carole</p>
<p>Week 2 has begun and the program is getting into full swing, now that the holiday weekend is over. </p>
<p>My daughter is very enthused about all her classes and all her teachers. She will have her first private voice lesson later this week. </p>
<p>Over the weekend, she and other kids were assigned to go to the Pittsburgh public library to dig up additional sheet music. My daughter says it was an impressive library, says the school's library is pretty good as well.</p>
<p>Sunday was also a day to do laundry! On the 4th, the city had a very big festival, but she said it was extremely crowded. </p>
<p>A new girl is moving on to her floor-- the girl had not been allowed to live there until now as she hadn't turned 16. One girl (non MT) is leaving because the art curriculum wasn't what she expected. </p>
<p>The food is ok. The list of evening workshops extensive.</p>
<p>To be continued ...</p>
<p>Theatremom, I am so glad your daughter is having fun! My son has had some lonely moments this week - the longest he has ever been away is five days - but he is so glad to be where he is, doing what he is doing. He says he is not having a good time, but a GREAT time! I think last weekend cemented the feelings that he was in the right place.</p>
<p>He went to Kennywood, an amusement park, on Saturday, and saw a group of barbershops singers, he asked if they sang Coney Island Baby, (he sang it in freshman chorus) they said they would sing it if he joined them on stage, so he did and had a blast! He was extra excited all day because the activity that evening was a showing of Phantom of the Opera (in the large auditorium we had orientation in.) Whoever had the DVD forget to deliver it and went off for the evening and left a group of expectant kids. My son realized he had the soundtrack on his ipod, so they hooked it up to the sound system and he jumped on stage to perform. He was quickly joined by many others and they sang till another copy of the movie was found. He said Mom, they were ALL theatre kids, all of them. Then they happily sang along for the rest of the evening. He said it was amazing.</p>
<p>This week had lots of homework, and lots of time for fun. Tonight is The Pirates of Penzance. He is not happy with the food, but hell live. We bought gift cards for a local restaurant when we were there, and mailed them this week, so he can have a treat. </p>
<p>Oh, and a correction, his directing class is MWF, in the afternoon. </p>
<p>We are enjoying his reports and yours Theatremom, thanks.</p>
<p>All -</p>
<p>Interesting that you all mention the food. My d is also in the CMU MT program - LOVES everything about it - EXCEPT the food. I would really hope that the food during the year would be better. </p>
<p>Is the CMU student out there to answer this?</p>
<p>and with only 9 in the class that just spoke to the kids over the weekend - and so many auditioning...hmmmm...we may not have to worry about the food.....BUT - she is very impressed with all of her teachers and happy to do the work.</p>
<p>janenw</p>
<p>A late reply to a question regarding Parent's Weekend. My daughter was there two years ago. We went to Parent's Weekend, but many of the parents didn't. D's roommate was from Montana, and parents couldnt afford to fly out again! From what I gathered, it's not a crisis if the parents don't come.</p>
<p>The one thing that surprise D about Parent's Weekend was that some of the kids that left the program at that point. Kids that were homesick, hated the program, missed their girl/boyfriend, etc. D could not imagine leaving such an awesome experience.</p>
<p>The bus pass was an exciting part of D. Being from a small, mid-west town, she had never (that she could remember) ridden a city bus like that. And definitely never on her own. A couple of times, she just took off and rode the bus, just for the experience.</p>
<p>Peg</p>
<p>I can't believe that 2 weeks have gone by. </p>
<p>My daughter seems to be the only one who is not complaining about the food. Not sure what this says about my cooking! She does say it lacks a lot of variety and could use some more fresh fruit, but otherwise she is ok.</p>
<p>On a more important note, she says that the CC kids are SO MUCH MORE INFORMED about the whole MT process than all the other kids around her. So thanks again to everyone who has shared so much. </p>
<p>The program continues to be wonderful. She has gone to the library numerous times for new audition material, and is getting very helpful input from her various teachers on the kind of songs/monologues that would be appropriate for her. </p>
<p>The Shakespeare evening workshop last week focused on physical aspects of performing him. Tomorrow night there is a workshop dealing with the rules of Equity. </p>
<p>Peggy -- that is amazing that so many kids went home... but my daughter says that there have been kids who are leaving... homesick, etc. I guess for some kids this is their first time away from home for an extended period. </p>
<p>We are not going up for parents weekend.</p>
<p>NYTheaterMom,</p>
<p>Can you check with your D and find out how she is hearing about the workshops. I just talked to my D and she did not know about the Shakespeare nor the equity workshop. </p>
<p>Other than missing these great opportunities it sounds like she is also having a great time. A little homesick at times, but no intention of dropping out.</p>
<p>Bearcaaat: I just sent her off an email with your question. I will post the answer as soon as I hear from her.</p>